Yesterday, Governor Martin O’Malley signed a law legalizing same sex marriage in Maryland. This news is the latest in a series of big victories for marriage equality. In February, an appeals court in California ruled Proposition 8 (the amendment banning gay marriage in California) unconstitutional, Washington state legalized gay marriage, and the New Jersey legislature passed a bill legalizing same sex marriage, although NJ governor Chris Christie vetoed the bill. The Maryland law takes effect in 2013, and opponents are expected to fight it. Even though the movement toward marriage equality is still a struggle, these events are important signs that things are changing.

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YouTube trends range from the adorable (kittens and babies, anyone?) to the grimace-worthy (FAILblog’s YouTube channel has over 1 million subscribers). Recently, though, a trend has popped up that is downright inspirational- the It Gets Better Project.

I didn’t hear about the campaign when Dan Savage, a gay columnist and activist, first started it a month ago in response to Billy Lucas’ death. Lucas, a 15-year-old high school freshman from Indiana, hung himself in his grandmother’s barn when the endless name-calling and physical abuse by bullies at his school became too much. Savage had a message for any gay teenager who was considering similar action- it gets better. The feelings of loneliness, worthlessness, and confusion fade away, and so do the close-minded bullies. He and his partner posted a video describing their life together to try to show teens that a happy, gay lifestyle is attainable, even if it seems impossible now. Read More »

As far as people go, I am rather intolerant.  I am intolerant of people who do not clean the coffee maker after they use it.  I am intolerant of couples that walk too slowly together on the sidewalk and therefore block all of the people behind them.  Mismatched outfits and too much eye makeup make my blood boil. And don’t even get me started on people who don’t know how to parallel park.

However, I’ve always felt that I exemplify a very accepting society when it comes to the bigger issues. Things like racial inequality or sex discrimination. I’m all about equal rights for everyone, regardless of race or gender. In fact, when my professor made me argue for school segregation and against gay marriage last week as a class exercise, I started laughing because I literally had nothing to say.

Why wouldn’t we want everybody to be happy?
Doesn’t everyone feel this way?
Doesn’t the law basically say just live and let live?

Yeah, apparently not. The events of the past couple of weeks have informed me that I am completely wrong about the world and the people living in it. Turns out, my tolerance isn’t the rule, it’s the exception. And minority groups, especially the gay population, have to put up with way more than I realized. Read More »

Q: I’ve had boyfriend my entire life, but I can’t help feeling attracted to some of my straight girl friends. Am I bi?

A: My instinct is to answer your question with “Maybe. Who cares?” and leave it at that, but I’ll try to do my job and actually advise. That said, I can’t tell you whether or not you’re bi. I think it’s possible that you’re crushing on your female friends because it’s a safe way to explore same-sex attraction—since they’re your friends and they’re straight, the chance of a hookup happening is minute, meaning you can admire/lust from afar.

But I also don’t think a few same-sex crushes necessarily have to mean something, and I hope you don’t feel pressure to immediately define yourself as soon as you catch yourself staring at a chick with a great rack. In the interest of full disclosure, I should say that I did make a brief jaunt to the other side myself. It was fun, and that was that. When I told a few friends about my tryst, I got a range of responses: amused, disgusted, curious, and shocked. A lot of them asked the question I hadn’t even bothered to ask of myself: “Are you bi?”

The answer? No, not particularly. But who knows, maybe by next month I’ll be marching in gay pride parades wearing flannel and waving a rainbow flag. The point is, I wasn’t interested in dissecting What It Meant, not for me, and certainly not for the benefit of others. Read More »